An Unexpected Friendship in Post-Apocalyptic Vegas
by Erednay
Summary: An unexpected friendship occurs between the courier, still suffering from amnesia, and a girl named Lucy - who has enough of her own problems. Together, they will change each other and the fate of the wasteland as we know it.
1. A Damsel in Distress

Brian panted as he stumbled through the doorway, breathless, he found the switch and pushed it. The raiders saw him, but it was too late, the door closed with a metallic clunk and he was safe – for the time being. He was deep underground, in a pre-war laboratory that specialized in laser weaponry and artificial intelligence. Despite the stale air, it was good to be away from the relentless New Vegas sun.

He ignored the curses coming from the other side of the door and studied the room around him, definitely pre-war he decided. There wasn't much, an old Mister Gusty gathering dust in one corner, a workbench against one wall with a faded Sugar Bombs poster above it, and lab equipment sprawled across the tables with everything covered with a thick coat of dust.

He had come through the only entrance, or so the raiders thought, his employer had told him about the hidden manhole under the workbench. The stasis pod in the other corner of the room caught his eye, he smiled – bingo. It contained the weapon he was paid to retrieve, a prototype pre-war laser RCW.

He approached the console stationed on a table beside it, the skeleton of its previous user still sitting eerily, hands placed on the keyboard. He placed his backpack against the pod and carefully pushed the remains of the user off the chair while he muttered an inaudible sorry. He sat down, wiped the dust from the console with the sleeve of his hand, fished out his reading glasses and a lukewarm bottle of Nuka Cola and got to work. It took him about ten minutes before he cracked the password, "Lucy".

Brian rubbed his forehead, where a small circular scar resided above his left eyebrow. It reminded him that someone robbed him of his past, and he went back to the task at hand. He tossed the empty bottle of Nuka Cola into the trashcan – not like it mattered, he thought, the place was coming apart anyways.

He logged in as the administrator and the console displayed the option to unlock the pod, and a warning below. He was eager to get out, but experience had taught him to read warnings, especially on pre-war technology. He opened the message and watched the words appear on the screen.

_Warning – subject is believed to have developed some form of self-awareness, handle with extreme caution._

He frowned at the screen, confused, and then glanced towards the pod. Subject? He could only see the weapon. Maybe the pod was originally intended for some life form, but now it provided a contaminant free home for the rifle.

Brian sighed, his short ginger hair was a mess, and his rough beard was in desperate need of a trimming. He wanted to go back to his room in Novac, it had his bed, and company – provided he had the caps. Also, his trusty vault jumpsuit smelled like stale sweat and cram, and he was eager to get out of it.

He eventually selected the "unlock" option, eyeing the pod carefully as it opened. He wasn't a gun nut – but he admired the workmanship that went into the weapon. The stock was made of high quality wood, and the name "Lucy" was engraved in it. The capacitors in the drum of the weapon were in good condition, though they looked slightly experimental – which was to be expected of a prototype. People were always looking for better ways to kill each other, even before the nukes went off. He got up and reached to pick it up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." a voice said.

Brian spun around to look at the door he came through, but it stood closed, he could still vaguely hear the raiders arguing about who was going to eat his legs. He studied the room again, it was deserted – was he hearing voices? He was going to have a serious talk with Dixon about his Jet when he got back. He carefully reached towards the gun again, but he was cut short again.

"Who are you?" the voice demanded, it was female, and it sounded eerily electronic. He didn't think any raiders got here before him, but he glanced around nervously. He stared at the Mister Gusty that lay in a rusty heap in the corner of the room.

"U-Um, I'm Brian" he stammered out, still looking at the Mister Gusty.

"What are you doing here?" it asked, obviously displeased.

The sound was not coming from the Mister Gusty, it was coming from in front of him – from the pod.

"I-I was just picking up this pre-war artifact here, but you can have it – just don't kill me."

"Pre-war artifact?"

He looked at the pod in front of him and concluded that there must be speakers laced inside, and he felt vulnerable and almost preferred to take his chances with the raiders. At least he could shoot them.

"The gun, and uh, you are?"

"I'm Lucy."

The owner of the gun, not good, he thought – she was probably watching him from a hidden camera somewhere. A Gun Runner could be touchy with his toys, but this seemed more of a collector's piece – the paranoid kind, they aren't willing to part from their possessions easily. Brian didn't like spilling blood, never did, and it sounded if it really belonged to her – so he decided it was better to walk away from this one.

Besides, he could not see her and guessed that she probably had her finger poised on a switch that would trigger poison gas, or an explosive, or – if she was feeling particularly sadistic – release a Deathclaw into the room with him. Brian decided it was time to leave.

"Ah – okay, Lucy, um, I'll just be leaving – the gun is all yours."

20 000 caps is a lot of money – but it wasn't worth your life. He couldn't buy any Nuka Cola if he was dead. He wouldn't tell his employer that he failed, that would lead him to losing some fingers – and Brian liked his fingers.

He would lay low for a while; his employer would just think he died, as many people tend to do when sent out on missions like these. He casually placed his hand on the holster of his laser defender, picked up his backpack and slowly started walking to the hidden manhole.

"Wait."

He froze, he closed his eyes and tensed himself for the Deathclaw to leap out from a hidden compartment in one of the walls – but it never came.

"I need your help."

He slowly opened his eyes and looked towards the stasis pod, he noticed a small screen on the weapon flicker to life, usually reserved for statistics on ammunition – a face appeared. It was a Vault Girl's face, the female counterpart to the ionic Vault-Tec mascot, she looked at him.

"Hey there, Brian." she said.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, please leave a review to let me know what you thought about chapter 1._

_I do not own the Fallout Universe, credit goes to the team who created this post-apocalyptic masterpiece. _

_The cover is courtesy of **Margenal** from DeviantART._


	2. Tunnels

Brian stared at the vault girl – it was an arc welder that snapped him out of his trance. He looked towards the door that seemed so secure a moment ago, and saw the white glare of a line appear. He heard squeals of excitement and felt his stomach twist; they were cutting through the door, impatient bastards – and where did they get their hands on an arc welder?

He turned back to the vault girl, her eyes still trained at him. He didn't want to be seen running around with this prototype, which would invite all the wrong kinds of attention, but something piqued his curiosity and he couldn't ignore it.

"What exactly are you?" he asked.

"My name is Lucy, I am a rare type of artificial intelligence that lost its artificial part – and I want to get out of here before those animals get their hands on me, " she said "and you're going to need my help if you want to get out of here."

"And why would I need that?" he asked, somewhat mockingly.

"Because you'll never get that 'secret' exit open without the passcode." she said, and further demonstrated by remotely engaging its lock.

Brian wondered if this day could get any worse, and he heard a bandit calling dibs on his balls over the intercom. He debated this for a moment, and decided that he'd rather take his chances outside with his everyone else than in here with these raiders.

"Touché, you made your point – let's go."

"And don't you dare think about dropping me while you make your escape, I still have enough juice to self-destruct and take a piece of you with me."

"Wouldn't dream of it, darling" he said, with a wink "now can we please get a move on? You might not be edible enough to be afraid of cannibals, but I sure am."

He heard her mumble a yes in reply and gingerly lifted her out of the pod. The weapon felt sturdy, but it weighed heavier than he anticipated, and if he was going to die today – he was going to die with a laugh.

"My, my, aren't we a bit on the hefty side?" he asked.

"Fuck off." she replied.

He took her advice and walked towards the secret exit while slinging on his backpack; he carefully placed her on the ground and moved the workbench out of the way. The raiders would be here soon, and he was anxious to get going. He lifted the plate that concealed the number pad, asked "Code?"

"What?" she asked.

"The code to open the hatch."

"Oh – 1, 2, 3, 4."

Brian stared at Lucy with a solid sense of disbelief, and turned to the keypad. He slowly keyed in the numbers and the hatch unlocked, with a sense of grim finality.

"Can you change the key code remotely?" he asked.

"No, why would you want to do that?"

"Because those raiders will try the first thing that comes to mind – and with their brains, that's usually 1, 2, 3, 4."

Brian sighed, his luck was fading fast the instant he met Lucy. He picked her up and loaded her with some spare electron charge cartridges he found in his backpack, "Can't be too safe, can we?" he said with a smile. He turned on his Pip-Boy light and descended into the tunnel; he pulled down the hatch and suddenly had a brilliant idea.

He slung Lucy over his back and rummaged around in his backpack again until he felt rough touch of a tin can – only this wasn't _just_ a tin can; it was a Nuka-grenade. His mother had taught him how to make it, and now was the perfect time to use it. He forcefully stuck it into the handles on the underside of the hatch, and looped a string from the trigger mechanism to the highest rung of the ladder. Lucy kept up a steady stream of one sided conversation while he was saving their lives, mainly impatiently asking why they weren't moving.

"I'm just leaving our new friends a parting gift." Brian replied, with a smug look on his face.

Obviously Lucy didn't understand this, but she would soon enough – and the raiders would be in for quite a surprise. He hastily slid down the ladder, fell into a puddle of something revolting, and sprinted towards the other end of the tunnel which was 20 meters away.

Brian unslung Lucy as he rounded the corner; he heard the hatch opening, the pin click and someone say: "Daddy's home! What kind of fuckin' retarded code was tha…?" and then the grenade went off, Brian dove and fell face first into the murky water he had been trudging through. He felt the shockwave as it passed through the tunnel. He sat up, still choking on the dirty water and gradually began to open his eyes, blinking several times in the process. His ears were ringing, but his sense of smell was still working somewhat – he smelt singed hair.

He fell back into the water, dousing the tiny flames that were eating his lucky vault jumpsuit and ginger hair. During all this, he had forgotten about Lucy and remembered her as the vault girl stared at him from the electronic screen – now covered in disgusting brown sludge where she lay on the ground.

"Sorry." he said, even though he couldn't hear himself.

She just glared at him, with no response. His ears were still ringing, and his mood had taken a turn for the worse. He must have dropped her by accident when he fell into the water, but he wasn't in the mood for her shit, so he glared back until his sense of hearing returned.

"Look – I just saved us, and sure, you aren't shining at the moment like you were in that cozy pod of yours, but that's all I could do with that dumb ass code."

This got through to her, and her resolve weakened a bit. She also looked weary and tired, like a human – though Brian knew that he wasn't processing information well, not after being the human torch for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry. Do you think that there will be more of them?" she asked.

"I doubt it, but I don't want to take any chances. Let's get out of here." he said, and stood up.

He picked her up, and promised he would have her cleaned up when they reached his room in Novac. For the time being, he took out an old rag and cleaned Lucy's screen while he walked. He was very grateful when he found out the weapon was mostly waterproof, but he would still have to clean the barrel.

Every time they reached a junction, he consulted Lucy, who instantly told him which way to go. He wondered if he would ever have been able to get out of this maze of tunnels without her help. Either way, he was happy, the chances of any leftover raiders being able to navigate this maze of tunnels were essentially nil.

"You're not all that bad." he said, while wiping away at the last of the sludge on the screen.

"And you're not all that dumb." she snapped, before she could catch her tongue. He ignored this and a few seconds later she said "Sorry, I kind of have a short fuse."

"I didn't know that an artificial intelligence could have a short fuse." he said.

"Remember, I said I lost the artificial part a while ago."

"So now you're just intelligence?"

That was when Brian heard an almost inaudible hissing. He froze, he knew that sound, it could only be a ghoul, but in these tunnels? He switched off his Pip-Boy light and crouched to the ground, listening. Lucy noticed his change in demeanor, and she kept quiet too. He slowly pulled out a dry .44 revolver, his plasma defender was soaked with water and he didn't want to risk firing it and losing his hand. He had already pushed his luck far enough.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Feral ghouls."

"… what are feral ghouls?"

He kept forgetting that he was talking to someone who had no knowledge of the wasteland, a

"Uh, think of a zombie – but irradiated and fast as hell."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Very, but why are they down here? These tunnels were supposed to be sealed off from the Wasteland; none of them could get in."

Then a flash of realization hit him and he turned away from Lucy, feeling miserable for the fates of the people that hoped to seek refuge down here.

"What is it Brian?"

"They probably locked themselves in here, when the nukes fell."

She stared at him at him for a few seconds, as if a cat had caught her digital tongue.

"But how did they turn into ghouls?" she asked.

"That's a story for another time; all we need to know is that they are mindless creatures that would kill us – and that they're in our way."

He stared towards the gloom at the end of the tunnel, straining his eyes to pierce the darkness. He doubted that there were more than three of them, but he didn't want to run in guns blazing. He could try to sneak past them but he wouldn't be able to see anything either, whereas they had superb hearing and smelling. Lucy noticed Brian struggling with the choices and offered a suggestion.

"Use me."

"What?" he asked, confused again, he didn't want to risk firing a laser weapon drenched in filthy water.

"One of the features of my design was night vision, just point me in the direction you want to see and watch the screen."

Brian put the .44 revolver back in its holster and lifted Lucy to him, he aimed the weapon towards to the gloom and looked at the screen – after a flicker, the vault girl disappeared and was replaced by a detailed representation of the tunnel ahead. Brian smiled; maybe his luck was changing for the better again.

"Lucy, I'd kiss you, but right now, you smell worse than a lakelurk's breath." he said, the corners of his mouth hinting at a smile.

"What's a lake..?"

"Never mind that, how far are we from the exit?"

"Not far, probably another few hundred meters."

"Let's get out of this tunnel then, I'm going to try and sneak past them – this stuff I'm covered in might hide my scent well enough to creep right by them, because they can't see in the dark either – but if it doesn't work, I'll have to put them down."

Brian started walking again, but at a much slower pace – stopping every few moments to glance through Lucy at the tunnel ahead. Once they rounded the second corner, Brian lifted Lucy for a better view of the tunnel ahead – and then he saw them. Forty meters away, there were three feral ghouls all crouched around some unfortunate creature that had the privilege of being their lunch. They were hunkered down just in front of the exit, too.

Brian knew that there was no hope of sneaking by, but he could see that these were just average feral ghouls. He shouldn't have any trouble disposing of them, as long as he was careful. He had one frag grenade, but he wasn't going to use it – not in a tunnel and not after that Nuka-grenade, he had had enough explosions for the day.

He slung Lucy on his back again and then crouched down, pulled out his .44 revolver from its holster and slung open the chamber; he emptied the bullets into his hand and shoved them into his back pocket. He took his hollow point bullets and carefully loaded six of them into the revolver. He snapped the chamber shut, closed his eyes and steadied his breathing – he had done this hundreds of times before, when he needed to kill.

"What are you doing?" Lucy whispered.

"I'm getting ready, just give me a moment."

Lucy was quite taken aback by the tone of his voice, it was not coloured with his usual pinch of humor. After waiting for two minutes, she saw Brian get up. She was about to ask him another question, but she saw the icy look in his eyes through the gloom and promptly forgot about it.

He switched on his Pip-Boy light and turned it towards the ghouls, they shrieked angrily – displeased with the light illuminating them, and then they charged towards Brian. Lucy would have held her breath, if she could; these ghouls were horrible creatures, with malnourished, skinny bodies and lifeless eyes.

Brian kept walking straight towards them, and lifted his revolver when they were 20 meters away – and shot the first ghoul in the chest, and then the head – then with the second, and third. They all fell to the ground within four seconds of the first shot. She recognized that he was "double tapping" them, a tactic used mainly in military operations for effective killing. She realized that Brian was no amateur to this, and she actually felt frightened of him.

When he was done, Brian let out a huge sigh to signal the end of his serious mood, and his eyes returned to their usual warmth and compassion. He put away his revolver and unslung Lucy from his back. She was glad to have the old Brian back, but she was also curious – just as Brian was when he met her.

"Who taught you that?" Lucy asked.

"My dad, now tell me how to open this door."

"Behind that panel, there's a keypad – the code is 1, 2, 3, 4." she said.

Brian smiled, and keyed in the numbers – the door opened, and behind it laid New Vegas.

"Welcome to New Vegas." said Brian.

* * *

_So my second chapter, took a bit longer to write but I hope you guys enjoy it! _


	3. The Long Haul Home

Brian winced as he stepped into the Nevada desert; his eyes were still adjusting to brightness of the Nevada sun. He felt good to be back in the open though; ever since he'd developed a slight case of claustrophobia from being buried alive once. He flicked out a pair of sunglasses, put them on and rubbed his beard in thought, before getting interrupted by an amused gun.

'Oh look, we've got a badass over here.' said Lucy, a smirk playing on her electronic face.

Brian smiled, it was nice having company, especially those with a sense of humor. He was used to wandering the relentless Nevada alone. The only thing that kept him company was listening to the antics of Mr. New Vegas – and his limited track collection.

'Unlike you, I have real eyes that I'd like to take care of' replied Brian. 'Hold on, I need to figure out if we're safe or not.'

They were cupcaked between two boulders on top of a hill with a narrow pathway leading downwards from the hatch they just came through. He unslung Lucy and his backpack before carefully laying them down on the barren floor. He rummaged around in the backpack before pulling out a pair of old binoculars and clipping it to his belt – he needed to get to a better vantage point.

Brian knew he'd be exposed on the boulder, in his blue jumpsuit – he should have worn his combat armor, bulky as it may be, it offered more protection than what he was currently wearing. He still kept clinging on to the fact that his vault suit was lucky though, he'd found twice the amount of caps and Nuka Cola's when he wore it.

He started climbing the boulder that looked steadiest, checking each crevice for a radscorpion before using it as a hand hold. 'Where are you going?' asked Lucy, feeling a bit worried he'd leave her to rust in the Wastes.

'Just getting a better view' he replied, mentally calculating the chances of getting shot when he reached the top.

People don't usually notice the tiny radscorpions, and they're the ones that pack the most venom, the dangerous ones Brian thought as he made his way higher.

'You're not going to leave me here, are you?' Lucy asked a few seconds later.

'Nope' Brian replied 'Can't afford to leave that behind.' he said, indicating his backpack.

'Well, aren't you just your regular gentleman' muttered Lucy.

'I didn't dump you back in that tunnel when I figured out you can't self-destruct' he told her as he reached for another handhold. 'And I haven't tried getting into your pants either, but I doubt that's an option.'

Lucy ignored his suggestive comment; she really didn't want to be left alone for another few years, there was no way she would be able to stand the boredom. 'Hey, look…' she began.

'Don't worry' Brian interjected. 'I won't leave such a fine piece of craftsmanship here in the wastes,' giving her a suggestive wink. 'As long as you promise to stop threatening me'

Lucy couldn't think up an appropriate counter to that, and ended up giving an irritable 'Fine' in response.

'That's a good girl' he noted, reaching the top. He surveyed the area around him, there were no signs of immediate danger – no raider camps, deathclaw nests or anything else than would try to actively kill them. It was going to be a long trek home after all; he could just make out the Dinky Dinosaur's outline on the edge of the horizon.

'This weather almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter, doesn't it?' asked Lucy, as Brian rejoined her.

Brian gave Lucy a pointed look, 'Never say that again' he said, after a brief moment of thought.

'Why not?' she queried obviously confused as to how her witty comment on the weather could annoy him.

'Because, apparently that's the only thing around 80% of the NCR troopers can think about' said Brian, in a slightly irritated tone, having heard that offhand comment a hundred times before. You couldn't get ten feet in a NCR outpost without some trooper complaining about the weather he recalled.

'NCR?' she asked Brian.

'New California Republic' he replied, and shortly added 'We're going to have a long talk about how things have changed since the bombs dropped when we get to my room in Novac.'

With that – Brian got up, slung his backpack on, picked up Lucy and started making his way towards Novac.

'We probably have a few hours of sunlight left' Brian remarked after clearing a rusted car. 'We'll be able to make good time but when it gets dark we'll set up camp for the night.'

They traveled in mutual silence for a few minutes, while Brian wondered how he was going to get out of this position; he had an employer that would kill him for this gun, or at least take off a few of his fingers. But he didn't feel right handing it over without Lucy's consent; he needed to figure out what was really going on. Before he was able to further contemplate his situation, a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

'So, what was that back there?' asked Lucy.

Brian snapped back to reality, 'What was what?' he asked.

'That… "thing" you did.'

Brian thought for a moment, 'Oh. I told you, remember?'

'You told me it's something your dad taught you, but why do you do it?' she asked.

'It helps me focus when I need to' he explained.

'Where is he now? Your dad, I mean.' she asked with genuine curiosity, hoping she could lull him into a full-fledged conversation.

'Dead' he replied, fixing his eyes on the horizon.

Lucy was taken aback by the bluntness of his statement 'U-Um, I'm sorry' she muttered, scolding herself for messing up the first genuine human conversation she's had in ages, even if he was a bit of a jerk.

'Don't be' he said, dwelling on the past before recollecting himself. 'On to happier roads' he said with a grin, regaining his good humor 'What kind of idiot would put a woman in a gun?'

'Very charming, aren't you?' asked Lucy with more than a bit of sarcasm 'Well, I'm not really sure actually.'

Brian raised his eyebrows at this, 'You know, this is starting to sound really strange. You sure you're not just some crazy fucking fanatic messing with me right now? For all I know, you could be sitting in your shack with a cold bottle of Nuka-Cola and talking to me through this gun' Brian knew it paid to be paranoid, but he wasn't getting any bad vibes yet.

'No,' she replied, probably scowling internally Brian thought 'That would be a welcome alternative to being in the hands of some idiot wandering around like he owns the place' she shot back.

Oh boy, he really did like the ones who could bite back, so he couldn't help laughing aloud. There wasn't much to laugh about these days he thought sadly 'What's so funny?' Lucy asked with annoyance, thinking that he misunderstood her insult.

'Oh no, it's just that not many people make jokes anymore' he told her 'With the Legion and NCR about to go toe to toe, people tend to forget to see the bright side of life'

Lucy groaned, 'If only I knew about half the things you were talking about' she said wistfully.

'Well, we've got some time to burn so I might as well spend some of it educating you a bit' he said, 'Bet you've got a million questions too.'

And so Brian spent the next few hours enlightening Lucy on the major factions in New Vegas, answering her questions and explaining the current struggle between the NCR and the Legion. They ended up getting into an argument, which Brian thought was inevitable anyway.

'There's no such thing as love at first sight' Brian declared 'It's just some kind of distorted fantasy that some girls want to suck up after hundreds of pre-war movies'

'Yes there is,' Lucy countered 'What about Romeo and Juliet?' instantly regretting her choice of example; there'd be no way he'd know what she was talking about.

'Both of them died stupid deaths at the end' Brian retorted 'I'm smarter than I look by the way' he added after a moment.

'Could have fooled me' she replied 'Have you ever been in love?' she asked, tongue in cheek.

Brian started answering but before he could, a bullet whizzed past his head and embedded itself into a tree next to him. He reacted automatically, sidestepping behind the tree. He fingered the hole the bullet left '357 caliber' he muttered to himself.

'What's going on?' Lucy asked frantically, which Brian found quite ironic, since she wasn't in mortal danger.

'Someone's obviously trying to kill me' Brian replied nonchalantly, loading some JSP rounds into his .44 revolver 'They're not doing a very good job' He added.

Lucy considered this man for a moment; he was obviously insane she thought. 'Why aren't you scared?' she asked when he was done loading his magnum.

'I'm quite tired and this is pretty normal' he said without looking up 'Probably saw me carrying this backpack with you in my hands and thought using the bullets to kill me would be worth the caps'

'You could have been dead right now if that bullet had been a few inches to the left' she said, concern in her voice becoming evident.

He gave her a quizzical look, 'Are you worried about me?' he asked her raising his eyebrows. 'Well, point is – I'm not. I've already been shot in the head once anyway' he said, indicating the circular scar on his forehead that his hairline usually hid away.

'All this because he was cocky and tried for a headshot' he sighed in disapproval 'Centre mass, first thing my dad taught me, if you don't hit the heart you're bound to hit something else important'

'You're insane' she blurted out, not willing to beat around the bush anymore.

Brian thought about this. 'Yeah, probably' he ended up saying. 'I'm going to say hi to our new friend, put a bullet in his arm if he's not nice' as he turned on his stealth boy.

Darwin had been waiting for at least half an hour now, but the asshole still wouldn't show himself. He cursed himself in hindsight, should have waited until he was in the open instead of getting greedy. He was finally going to be able to bring some food home to his daughter and wife – he was surprised by his good fortune.

He didn't feel good about killing a stranger, but he couldn't face his family without bringing something back 'You do what you gotta to' he muttered to himself, wondering when his target was going to step out from behind the tree.

He was surprised when he felt the business end of a revolver against the back of his head and someone say 'Drop the rifle' He obeyed the voice, and slowly released the rifle 'Now stand up and turn around, slowly' the voice commanded.

Darwin did as he was told, and ended up looking down the barrel of a .44 magnum being held by a bored looking man, wearing a much more stained vault suit than he initially thought 'Look here..' He began before being interrupted by the stranger 'I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it as honestly as possible' he said.

Darwin nodded in agreement, and the stranger motioned him to step away from the rifle, which he did.

'Do you believe in love at first sight?' the stranger asked, after he patted down Darwin 'What?' asked Darwin in confusion, thinking he must have misheard the question.

'Do you believe in love at first sight?' the stranger asked again with less patience this time, looking more intimidating.

'Umm..' Darwin replied, thinking back to his wife Rose. 'Yes, I do' he said after a minute of consideration.

'Seriously?' the stranger asked in unmasked disbelief 'Yes' Darwin replied, with more resolve this time. The stranger groaned and holstered his magnum 'Okay, that doesn't mean you're right Lucy,' he said as he unslung his fancy laser weapon from his back. 'It just means that there's one more sap in the Wasteland than I thought' he said to it.

Darwin thought he was talking to a gun nut loony, probably so high on Jet he's imagining his gun can talk. He started shifting towards his rifle again, maybe he could get the edge on this guy – he seemed to be lost in a heated argument with his gun.

Darwin made a break for his gun when he heard the loud report of a gunshot and found a bullet in the narrow gap between his gun and his hand, thankful that he didn't lose any fingers.

'I wouldn't if I were you' said the stranger evenly 'Now why did you choose to try and shoot me?' he enquired. 'Thought that rifle of yours would be worth something' Darwin replied, knowing it paid to be honest, even to the man you tried to kill a few minutes ago.

'Aha! Told you! At least I was right about that' the man exclaimed smugly to his weapon, before turning to Darwin again 'I'm not crazy' he said awkwardly 'this gun, it can talk, say hi Lucy'

Silence.

'Lucy,' the stranger began again 'if you don't say something right now, I'm going to use you as a chew toy for my friend's pack brahmin'

'Hello' a voice said, emanating from the weapon 'I'm Lucy'

Darwin stared at the weapon and offered a confused 'Howdy there miss' in reply, still not quite grasping the awkward situation he found himself in.

'Takes some getting used to I know' the stranger said thoughtfully 'Look, I just want to talk – so how about neither of us point guns at each other and we'll get through this just fine?' he asked.

'Suits me, not like I could object or anything' Darwin replied.

The stranger looked him square in the eyes and said 'Yes you could, but that would earn you a bullet in the head'

'I get your meaning' Darwin said and sat on the ground 'but if you want to kill me, at least make it quick.'

'I'm not planning to actually, unless you give me a reason' he said, nodding towards the rifle. 'So let's hear your story, you don't look like your average raider scum and that's probably why you're still alive – that, and someone made me laugh recently so I'm in pretty high spirits' he chucked as he made himself comfortable on a nearby stone.

'Even after being shot at?' Darwin asked.

'Well, that was kind of a buzzkill.' he admitted reluctantly 'But, hey, you missed right?' the stranger said with a smile 'What's your name?'

'Darwin, and would you mind me asking yours?'

'Brian, now Darwin – is there any reason you needed these caps so badly that you'd shoot someone from a few hundred yards and steal their gear?' Brian inquired.

'I don't think you'll believe me son, but my family's starving' he said miserably 'Game just ain't what it used to be in these parts, most of it being hunted by the NCR or Legion and you don't want to pick a fight with either of them if you've got a grain of sense.'

Brian nodded in approval, both sides were preparing for the war and they were taking a significant portion of the resources from of the local populace, resources were becoming scarcer and people more desperate.

'This will be the third day I'll be coming home with no food, and I just can't face it – looking my wife in the eye and telling her I've got nothing… and my daughter' he started sobbing 'I saw you and your gear and thought…' his voice trailed off.

Lucy had remained quiet during all this, she had been interested in seeing how this would play out – she felt sorry for the old man, and worried Brian would just kill this pitiable him and move on. He had probably killed six men with that Nuka-Grenade in those tunnels and it didn't look like it weighed on his conscience at all.

Brian slowly took off his backpack and fished out his laser defender. Lucy started objecting, hoping she could convince Brian to spare this man's life somehow. To her surprise, Brian passed it to the Darwin still sniffling infront of him 'What am I supposed to do with this?' he asked when he recovered enough to speak.

'Sell it' Brian advised him 'Not for less than 400 caps though, I'm pretty sure you'd know where to find a reasonable trader' He fished out a few Brahmin steaks he cooked the day prior and handed them to Darwin 'and give this to your family, should be a welcome change to molerat meat.'

Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing – Brian sharing his food and resources to the man who tried to kill him less than an hour ago.

Darwin was at a loss for words, the man he wanted to rob was saving him and his family from starving 'I don't know what to say' he began, voice cracking slightly 'I don't know what came over me'

'This place brings out the worst in us' Brian agreed wryly, rummaging around for those three bottles of Sunset Sarsaparilla he had. He found them and passed them on to Darwin, who was carefully placing everything in his own rug sack.

'Tell your wife that you met a friendly stranger, and try and leave out the part about trying to kill me' Brian said as they he was getting up 'Don't want to set a bad example for the kid.'

'I'll never forget this' Darwin replied, getting up himself 'I'll find a way to repay you.'

'You can repay me by hauling your ass back home to your wife and kid.' Brian suggested.

Darwin and Brian gave each other a firm handshake before parting ways. Darwin feeling like the proudest father in the Wasteland right now and Brian grinning like a fool, knowing one more kid will be getting a decent meal tonight.

'You've been real quiet lately.' Brian remarked as he realized Lucy hadn't said anything in twenty minutes of traveling. The sun was starting to set and he knew they needed to get to shelter soon, before the real creatures came out to play.

'Did you actually give him all of your food?' She asked, still astonished by his noble deed.

'Um, well, yeah – I wasn't that hungry anyways' he said hurriedly, just on cue for his stomach to growl loudly 'don't say a thing' he warned her.

Lucy let a giggle escape and said 'You're not half the jerk I thought you were.'

'That was… almost a compliment, I think' he said smirking 'We'll camp in here tonight' indicating an abandoned shack he used often during his travels. He stepped in, locking the door behind him before unslinging his backpack and dropping it on the floor beside the bed.

He removed his magnum from its holster, checked that it was loaded and put it under his pillow. He unslung Lucy and put her on the table beside the bed 'We'll start early tomorrow morning' he said as he wrestled with his jumpsuit's stubborn zip.

Lucy couldn't help staring as he took off his jumpsuit, his back was covered in scars – too many she thought to herself. He carefully slung his jumpsuit over the front railing of the bed while she admired his lean muscular figure. He had well-defined abdominal muscles giving him a respectable stomach, and strong shoulders that were no stranger to heavy burdens.

His arms weren't exactly muscular, but they looked firm and strong. She noticed a tattoo on the inside of his left forearm but she didn't have time to make it out because he collapsed on the bed and muttered a 'Good night' before promptly falling asleep.

He acted like a jerk most of the time, but he would go hungry for a complete stranger that tried to kill him? It made no sense to her.

Maybe he was right about love at first sight being a load of crap, and maybe she was wrong about him. 'He does have a nice ass' she caught herself thinking and blushed, it has been awhile since she's seen anyone she told herself that's all, there's no way I could like him she established to herself.

Before she could further dwell on the day's events, her internal timer kicked in and powered her down, putting her to sleep.

* * *

_So here is chapter 3, if you're still reading - drop a comment telling me what you think, especially about the new dialogue style. The single inverted commas just looked better in my opinion._

_Hope you enjoy reading._


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